Sasha Waters, director and producer of the new American Masters documentary \"Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World,\" joins Big Blend Radio to talk about bringing the life of one of America's most beloved and most private poets to the screen.
Mary Oliver was a bestselling poet and Pulitzer Prize winner whose work — including \"Wild Geese\" and \"The Journey\" — has reached readers far beyond the usual poetry audience. Waters discusses how Oliver's decades in Provincetown, Massachusetts shaped her writing, the restorative power of nature and dogs in Oliver's life, and her four-decade love story with photographer Molly Malone Cook.
The conversation also explores how the film balances intimacy with the privacy Oliver so fiercely protected, the process of bringing in voices like John Waters, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham Carter, and Stephen Colbert to read her work, and why Oliver's message about paying attention to the natural world feels more urgent than ever.
This episode also lands right in the middle of American Artists Appreciation Month — a fitting time to celebrate a filmmaker telling the story of one of America's great literary artists.
The film premiered as the opening selection at True/False Film Festival this year, and has since screened at the Berkshire International Film Festival and Provincetown Film Festival. It's out now in theaters — including IFC Center in New York and Laemmle theaters in LA — and expanding nationwide, with a digital and home video release coming August 25th. \"Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World\" also premieres nationwide on PBS Tuesday, August 25 as part of American Masters.
🎬 Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/B7bfYkgotBM
📺 More on PBS/American Masters: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mary-oliver-documentary/37967/
🎟️ Theaters, showtimes & booking: https://kinolorber.com/film/mary-oliver-saved-by-the-beauty-of-the-world
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